I’ll never forget the conversations my spouse and I had about whether to have a child. Were we ready? Did we have enough saved? What about our busy schedules? There were plenty of reasons we could rattle off that would suggest we wait. But here’s what we realized: if we waited for the “perfect time,” we’d never take the leap. New life is never born out of perfect circumstances. Rather, it’s born out of love, courage, and trust that God will provide what we need along the way. The same is true for the church. With cultural shifts, financial uncertainty, and so much change in the air, it might feel like now is the worst time to try something new on the edges of your current mission and ministry. But in reality, it may be the best time. Here are five reasons why: 1. People are spiritually hungry. If you’re in church every week, it can feel like the only people who care about God are the ones already there—the faithful few who show up, serve on committees, and keep things running. From inside the walls, it may look like nobody else is interested. But step outside, and you’ll see a different picture. Spiritual hunger is everywhere. It’s the young professional who scrolls through mindfulness podcasts late at night because she’s desperate for peace. It’s the neighbor who keeps a crystal on his desk because he’s looking for healing and energy. It’s the retiree who spends hours on ancestry sites because he’s searching for connection and meaning. It’s the college student asking, “What’s my purpose?” while nursing anxiety over the future. These are people longing for hope, belonging, and something deeper than what they’re finding. They may not be coming to church—but that doesn’t mean they aren’t hungry for God. The question is: are we willing to meet them in their hunger? 2. Passions can be what makes faith come alive What if the things that make you come alive—whether it’s hiking, painting, cooking, or playing cards with friends—weren’t “extras” to squeeze in after “real life,” but places where God’s Spirit is inviting us to sink in and explore with others. We live in a dis-integrated world, where we are not sure how our work life, family life, free time, and faith connect. But Fresh Expressions weave together the things that bring you joy, the God who is the source of that joy, and the people around you who may discover faith through those very same passions. What if God never meant for life to be so divided? In a fractured world, Fresh Expressions bring wholeness. They remind us that God doesn’t just show up in sanctuaries—God shows up in our everyday passions. And when we share those passions with others, they can become doorways for people to encounter Jesus in ways that feel authentic, integrated, and deeply human. We become more alive, and they do too. 3. Good conversation changes lives. If our world needs anything right now, it’s honest, hopeful conversation. Too often, people only encounter church as a one-way monologue—someone speaking from a pulpit. But what many are longing for is dialogue. They want a safe space to wrestle with questions, share their stories, and make sense of a changing world. Around a table, with a cup of coffee or a shared meal, conversations can open doors that sermons alone can’t. Fresh Expressions create those spaces for dialogue—where the gospel can be shared not just in words, but in relationships and mutual conversation. 4. Playfulness breathes new life. One of the overlooked gifts of Fresh Expressions is their spirit of playfulness. And that playfulness is contagious. It reawakens joy in Christians who have been burned out by institutional maintenance. It helps congregations remember that following Jesus is not just about duty or obligation—it’s also about delight. What if we began hosting a neighborhood dinner, not as a “program” but as a chance to laugh, share stories, and savor food together.? What if instead of chasing the middle schoolers out of the parking lot after school, we cranked up the music and started enjoying popcorn and cornhole together? Playfulness creates space for delight, and delight creates space for connection. And when we invite others into this kind of shared life, faith doesn’t feel like an obligation—it feels like joy catching hold. We begin to see Jesus not as the taskmaster of our duties but as the playful Savior who delights in setting people free. In a world that feels heavy with anxiety and division, Christians who live with playfulness, curiosity, and generosity shine like sparks in the dark. And those sparks? They have a way of catching on. 5. We can reframe church for a new generation. If there’s one word that describes our culture right now, it might be cynicism . Generations are growing up in a world of broken promises—institutions that fail, leaders who disappoint, divisions that deepen, and a constant stream of bad news in the palm of their hands. Cynicism feels like a shield: if you don’t trust, you can’t be hurt. But shields also keep out the very things that give life—love, hope, and belonging. This is why reframing faith for a new generation matters so much right now. Cynicism doesn’t just make people skeptical, it slowly erodes the capacity to imagine a better future. It leaves people resigned, tired, and disengaged. If you can’t trust anyone or anything, then what’s left to build your life on? And here is where the gospel speaks with surprising urgency. An encounter with the living God cuts through cynicism in a way nothing else can. Fresh Expressions arrive not with easy answers or trite slogans, but encounters with the disruptive, healing presence of Jesus. Imagine what happens when someone discovers that God is not a manipulative authority figure looking to entrap them, but the One who loves them without condition, whose mercy is from everlasting to everlasting. For a flourishing future, we don’t need more clever spin or moral guilt-trips. We need a generation who has tasted the goodness of God for themselves—who have found a hope sturdy enough to withstand the world’s brokenness and a love strong enough to build new communities of belonging. The Bottom Line If you’re waiting for the “perfect time” to start a Fresh Expression, you’ll wait forever. But if you take a step of faith now—imperfect as it may feel—you might just make room for God to birth something new. And here’s the surprising thing: when you take that leap, it’s not only your community that comes alive. You come alive. Your leaders come alive. Your church comes alive. There will never be a perfect time to start a Fresh Expression. There is only now.
I’m a Holiness, Pentecostal, Anabaptist. You won’t find that combination coming together very often anywhere, but I have found that all three streams work well within the Fresh Expressions movement. Some might assume that the Holiness/Pentecostal part makes sense with Fresh Expressions, but how can the Anabaptist part work? Afterall Fresh Expressions is a movement founded within the Church of England? How does Anabaptist belief and practice fit with that? Let’s remember that the Fresh Expressions movement took root in the fields of post-Christendom England just a few decades ago. Christian leaders among the church of England noticed that people were gathering in places outside the four walls of the church buildings to encounter God. Relational connections, networks of friendships were organically forming for mission in places of hurt, brokenness, marginalization. And outbreaks of the Spirit were happening. People were finding Christ in fresh and new ways. The church was happening among people that would never “go to church.” To their credit, the Anglican church leaders asked how can we support these movements and cooperate with what God was doing. Thus started a movement, the Mission-Shaped Church movement, as one of the founding documents was titled. It led to the Fresh Expressions movement in the UK and spread to North America. The Anabaptist movements have their origins 500 years ago in Europe, in the fields of post Christendom as well. In this case though, the Anabaptists were openly rejecting the Christendom alignment of church, state and culture. But like present-day Fresh Expressions, they represented the movements of Jesus happening outside the sanctioned four walls of the church and it’s hierarchies. As such, the two movements both started with Christians gathering outside the sanctioned practice and programs of the established church. And so we might expect that there’s much to learn from each other. Allow me to explore a few places where some of these learnings can happen. Christian leaders among the church of England noticed that people were gathering in places outside the four walls of the church buildings to encounter God. Post Christendom The medieval structures of the church, sponsored (and paid for) by the state, organized the church towards buildings, placing church authority in the offices of the priest/bishop, and coordinating the worship service and other programs of the church towards a uniform liturgy for all churches across the world. It was all part of Christendom. Anabaptists critiqued all of this, much of it for good reason. And this gave impetus for a reexamination of church outside the structures of the four walls of the Christendom church. In some ways, Fresh Expressions is doing today what Anabaptists have been doing for 500 years, the birthing of church expressions outside the walls and programming of institutional structure. Along with all this came an Anabaptist suspicion towards what had become the centralized leadership structures of the church and its proclivity towards hierarchy. Plagued with corruption, and abuse of power, Anabaptists left these medieval church hierarchies for more collaborative, organic forms of leadership. They sought to develop leadership “among” a people, not “over” a people. Five hundred years later, as we try to organize church outside the four walls of the church, what Fresh Expressions calls a ‘blended ecology,’ leadership will need to be organic in similar ways, doing the work of coalescing groups on the ground into the work of the Spirit. Anabaptists have some theology and history to offer Fresh Expressions in these tasks. But of course, it goes without saying, as with all movements, that over time institutions and bureaucracies get set in their ways. Five hundred years of Anabaptist history has shown how some of the best ideas on collaborative leadership, mutual and communal discernment, can go awry. Fresh Expressions has much to offer Anabaptists in this regard. Their work in training and developing new kinds of leaders can reinvigorate the Anabaptist work of developing leaders. Fresh Expressions can reinvigorate old histories, while Anabaptists can help in not repeating old mistakes. If Anabaptists have the history, Fresh Expressions has the energy. Anabaptists bring wisdom. Fresh Expressions brings the ”fresh” eyes. Together, I believe, a dialogue can ignite both for the work of Christ’s kingdom. If Anabaptists have the history, Fresh Expressions has the energy. Community and Discipleship Anabaptists see the church as more than a collection of individuals who gather to receive religious goods and service from the professionals. American churches have sometimes fallen into that trap. Fresh Expressions and Anabaptists alike resist that consumer approach to church. For Anabaptists, the community is central to the life of the believer. This Anabaptist focus wards off the consumerist tendencies of our culture. For Anabaptists, fellowship around a table at a potluck meal is almost sacramental. It is a special place to encounter Christ. The church is an alive organism of the Holy Spirit whereby we discern life together and the salvation made possible in Jesus Christ becomes real and lived together. Christianity is not a religion. Church is not a set of programs. It is a way of life given to us in Christ, lived out under His Lordship over a community, made possible by the Holy Spirit. Discipleship moves to the forefront for Anabaptists because Christians can no longer depend on the culture of Christendom to support Christian life. It must be the church community itself that generates culture and life sufficient to nurture our souls into faithfulness. And so the church as a community, alive with the gifts of the Spirit, eating meals at a table, discerning the teachings of Scripture, become a whole way of life that disciples believers into the Kingdom. There can be no consumerism here. This changes the way we think about ecclesiology. Anabaptists focus on practices, that shape beliefs into behavior. The questions we ask shift. When is a community just an affinity group, when is it mission, when is it discipleship? What is the core practices of discipleship and community that ground us in Jesus? As Fresh Expressions builds communities and practices for building communities outside the church, the wisdom of Anabaptists is helpful. The Anabaptist focus on practices, not only beliefs or programs, is helpful. And yet, as Anabaptists seek to avoid their own communities from becoming insular, coercive or sectarian, they can learn communal formation for mission all over again at Fresh Expressions. Together, Anabaptists and Fresh Expressions together, in dialogue, can ignite both for the renewal of the kingdom in our neighborhoods. The Kingdom Versus creedal formulas, Anabaptists tend to focus on Jesus first, his whole life, his proclamation of the Kingdom of God coming in his presence. The gospel is the whole life of Jesus, his victory over sin, death and evil. And so salvation hardly makes sense apart from Jesus’ preaching of the Kingdom of God, the inauguration of the Kingdom, and the living in that Kingdom now in anticipation of its future. Salvation can never be only personal, it is intensely social. And salvation can never be only social, it is intensely personal andn transformation as I personally follow Jesus and make Him Lord of my life. It is this full gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and its inextricable link to the Kingdom that takes us beyond the individualist formulas. The Christendom forces in our history will always tempt us to turn salvation in Jesus into a formula Anabaptists of all streams can learn and be invigorated from the. But we must resist and learn the ways of calling people into something deeper. This is the heart of Fresh Expressions, it seems to me. Anabaptists can help Fresh Expressions with this call to something deeper. But sometimes Anabaptists can also get caught into an echo chamber. Over time our language and skills of communication lose the ability to engage the world outside the church. Fresh Expressions is ever pressing into how we can communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom into broken places. Once again, I believe, that Anabaptists and Fresh Expressions together, in dialogue, can ignite a renewal of evangelism and witness to the kingdom in our neighborhoods. Courage for new adventures must take hold. We’re In New Territory Now In summary, if there’s one thing I have learned from both Anabaptists and Fresh Expressions, it’s that once we understand the social dynamics of the new post-Christendom cultures, our entire missiology and ecclesiology must shift. Old habits must die. Courage for new adventures must take hold. And God is calling us into these new fields of post-Christendom to do mission. And for this calling, I am so blessed to have partaken of both the Anabaptists streams and Fresh Expressions streams of theology and practice. I pray God brings these two great historical movements together more in the future to accomplish great things for the Kingdom of God in Jesus name.
Marta never imagined she’d live in Mississippi—much less start a church. But God had other plans. In this episode, hear how Marta’s love for her Hispanic community and passion for teaching became the spark for a new kind of church—one that began not in a sanctuary, but in a local library and around shared meals. As she gathered with children and families to read books in their language, moments of storytime and food became sacred opportunities to build relationships, nurture belonging, and share the love of Jesus. Discover how something as simple as gathering over a table or opening a book can become the foundation for a vibrant faith community—a beautiful fresh expression of church rooted in familia, hospitality, and hope. Marta Sobrino Bolen , the pastor of Glenfield United Methodist Church, has started a ministry for Latinos called La Misión that helps Latino families in three areas: family, community, and spiritual growth. La Misión currently includes a tutoring program, a food pantry, a clothes pantry, reading and writing skills, spiritual growth, and support to families who have just arrived to the US. Related Resources: Fresh Expressions Incubator - Dinner Church in Hispanic Communities (November 5th) Email us: podcasts@freshexpressions.com Subscribe & Review Help us get the word out by subscribing and leaving a review for Rural Renewal Podcast on your favorite platform. Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts
In this episode of the Rural Renewal Podcast, we talk with Nanc Bourne and Malcolm Fowler about how a simple nudge from God grew into monthly community dinners that meet a real need in their rural town. What began with a few faithful people has become a lay-led ministry that’s strengthening relationships, feeding neighbors, and renewing the church’s mission. Their story shows how small steps—led by ordinary church members, not just pastors—can bear real fruit. If you’re longing to see your community thrive, this conversation offers hope and practical inspiration for what God can spark right where you are. Malcolm Fowler is the pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Springfield, VT since 2016. He is called to serve with the love of Jesus for the people of Jesus. A native New Englander he loves all things motorcycling, all things Scottish, Tolkien, his family, his Church, and his Savior, not necessarily in that order. In ministry Malcolm loves to see people grow in the depth of their relationship with Jesus. Nanc Bourne is a recently retired registered nurse. She is joyously engaged in ministry at the Calvary Baptist fellowship Related Resources: Join our Facebook group: Rural Renewal Podcast Community Email us: podcasts@freshexpressions.com Subscribe & Review Help us get the word out by subscribing and leaving a review for Rural Renewal Podcast on your favorite platform. Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts
In the heart of New Albany, Mississippi, a vibrant rhythm of worship, service, and community rises from a ministry called La Misión, led by Rev. Marta Sobrino Bolen. Born from the vision of New Albany United Methodist Church to reach and embrace its growing Hispanic community, La Misión has become far more than a church program—it’s a living expression of the Gospel in two languages and many forms. Each week, families gather for worship, food, tutoring, and friendship, echoing the anthem that defines their identity:
Rooted in the Early Church The vision for The Table-Chantry draws directly from Acts 2:46–47:
I’m a Holiness, Pentecostal, Anabaptist. You won’t find that combination coming together very often anywhere, but I have found that all three streams work well within the Fresh Expressions movement. Some might assume that the Holiness/Pentecostal part makes sense with Fresh Expressions, but how can the Anabaptist part work? Afterall Fresh Expressions is a movement founded within the Church of England? How does Anabaptist belief and practice fit with that? Let’s remember that the Fresh Expressions movement took root in the fields of post-Christendom England just a few decades ago. Christian leaders among the church of England noticed that people were gathering in places outside the four walls of the church buildings to encounter God. Relational connections, networks of friendships were organically forming for mission in places of hurt, brokenness, marginalization. And outbreaks of the Spirit were happening. People were finding Christ in fresh and new ways. The church was happening among people that would never “go to church.” To their credit, the Anglican church leaders asked how can we support these movements and cooperate with what God was doing. Thus started a movement, the Mission-Shaped Church movement, as one of the founding documents was titled. It led to the Fresh Expressions movement in the UK and spread to North America. The Anabaptist movements have their origins 500 years ago in Europe, in the fields of post Christendom as well. In this case though, the Anabaptists were openly rejecting the Christendom alignment of church, state and culture. But like present-day Fresh Expressions, they represented the movements of Jesus happening outside the sanctioned four walls of the church and it’s hierarchies. As such, the two movements both started with Christians gathering outside the sanctioned practice and programs of the established church. And so we might expect that there’s much to learn from each other. Allow me to explore a few places where some of these learnings can happen. Christian leaders among the church of England noticed that people were gathering in places outside the four walls of the church buildings to encounter God. Post Christendom The medieval structures of the church, sponsored (and paid for) by the state, organized the church towards buildings, placing church authority in the offices of the priest/bishop, and coordinating the worship service and other programs of the church towards a uniform liturgy for all churches across the world. It was all part of Christendom. Anabaptists critiqued all of this, much of it for good reason. And this gave impetus for a reexamination of church outside the structures of the four walls of the Christendom church. In some ways, Fresh Expressions is doing today what Anabaptists have been doing for 500 years, the birthing of church expressions outside the walls and programming of institutional structure. Along with all this came an Anabaptist suspicion towards what had become the centralized leadership structures of the church and its proclivity towards hierarchy. Plagued with corruption, and abuse of power, Anabaptists left these medieval church hierarchies for more collaborative, organic forms of leadership. They sought to develop leadership “among” a people, not “over” a people. Five hundred years later, as we try to organize church outside the four walls of the church, what Fresh Expressions calls a ‘blended ecology,’ leadership will need to be organic in similar ways, doing the work of coalescing groups on the ground into the work of the Spirit. Anabaptists have some theology and history to offer Fresh Expressions in these tasks. But of course, it goes without saying, as with all movements, that over time institutions and bureaucracies get set in their ways. Five hundred years of Anabaptist history has shown how some of the best ideas on collaborative leadership, mutual and communal discernment, can go awry. Fresh Expressions has much to offer Anabaptists in this regard. Their work in training and developing new kinds of leaders can reinvigorate the Anabaptist work of developing leaders. Fresh Expressions can reinvigorate old histories, while Anabaptists can help in not repeating old mistakes. If Anabaptists have the history, Fresh Expressions has the energy. Anabaptists bring wisdom. Fresh Expressions brings the ”fresh” eyes. Together, I believe, a dialogue can ignite both for the work of Christ’s kingdom. If Anabaptists have the history, Fresh Expressions has the energy. Community and Discipleship Anabaptists see the church as more than a collection of individuals who gather to receive religious goods and service from the professionals. American churches have sometimes fallen into that trap. Fresh Expressions and Anabaptists alike resist that consumer approach to church. For Anabaptists, the community is central to the life of the believer. This Anabaptist focus wards off the consumerist tendencies of our culture. For Anabaptists, fellowship around a table at a potluck meal is almost sacramental. It is a special place to encounter Christ. The church is an alive organism of the Holy Spirit whereby we discern life together and the salvation made possible in Jesus Christ becomes real and lived together. Christianity is not a religion. Church is not a set of programs. It is a way of life given to us in Christ, lived out under His Lordship over a community, made possible by the Holy Spirit. Discipleship moves to the forefront for Anabaptists because Christians can no longer depend on the culture of Christendom to support Christian life. It must be the church community itself that generates culture and life sufficient to nurture our souls into faithfulness. And so the church as a community, alive with the gifts of the Spirit, eating meals at a table, discerning the teachings of Scripture, become a whole way of life that disciples believers into the Kingdom. There can be no consumerism here. This changes the way we think about ecclesiology. Anabaptists focus on practices, that shape beliefs into behavior. The questions we ask shift. When is a community just an affinity group, when is it mission, when is it discipleship? What is the core practices of discipleship and community that ground us in Jesus? As Fresh Expressions builds communities and practices for building communities outside the church, the wisdom of Anabaptists is helpful. The Anabaptist focus on practices, not only beliefs or programs, is helpful. And yet, as Anabaptists seek to avoid their own communities from becoming insular, coercive or sectarian, they can learn communal formation for mission all over again at Fresh Expressions. Together, Anabaptists and Fresh Expressions together, in dialogue, can ignite both for the renewal of the kingdom in our neighborhoods. The Kingdom Versus creedal formulas, Anabaptists tend to focus on Jesus first, his whole life, his proclamation of the Kingdom of God coming in his presence. The gospel is the whole life of Jesus, his victory over sin, death and evil. And so salvation hardly makes sense apart from Jesus’ preaching of the Kingdom of God, the inauguration of the Kingdom, and the living in that Kingdom now in anticipation of its future. Salvation can never be only personal, it is intensely social. And salvation can never be only social, it is intensely personal andn transformation as I personally follow Jesus and make Him Lord of my life. It is this full gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and its inextricable link to the Kingdom that takes us beyond the individualist formulas. The Christendom forces in our history will always tempt us to turn salvation in Jesus into a formula Anabaptists of all streams can learn and be invigorated from the. But we must resist and learn the ways of calling people into something deeper. This is the heart of Fresh Expressions, it seems to me. Anabaptists can help Fresh Expressions with this call to something deeper. But sometimes Anabaptists can also get caught into an echo chamber. Over time our language and skills of communication lose the ability to engage the world outside the church. Fresh Expressions is ever pressing into how we can communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom into broken places. Once again, I believe, that Anabaptists and Fresh Expressions together, in dialogue, can ignite a renewal of evangelism and witness to the kingdom in our neighborhoods. Courage for new adventures must take hold. We’re In New Territory Now In summary, if there’s one thing I have learned from both Anabaptists and Fresh Expressions, it’s that once we understand the social dynamics of the new post-Christendom cultures, our entire missiology and ecclesiology must shift. Old habits must die. Courage for new adventures must take hold. And God is calling us into these new fields of post-Christendom to do mission. And for this calling, I am so blessed to have partaken of both the Anabaptists streams and Fresh Expressions streams of theology and practice. I pray God brings these two great historical movements together more in the future to accomplish great things for the Kingdom of God in Jesus name.
Ever since the Baptist General Association of Virginia (BGAV) took responsibility for stewarding the Fresh Expressions movement (which originated in Great Britain) in the United States in 2012, Baptists from various streams of this vibrant and diverse family have caught its vision and ideals. Globally, Baptists are among the largest denominational families within the Reformation/Protestant tradition of the Christian Church. The Baptist World Alliance, for example, represents 53 million people in 138 countries and territories, with 283 member bodies. This does not include most of the Southern Baptist Convention (with the exception of BGAV and Baptist General Convention of Texas) and independent Baptists, and so it is fair to say that there are some 65-70 million Baptists globally. Baptists in general share several core convictions and missional attitudes that harmonize beautifully with the vision and mission of the Fresh Expressions movement. Commitment to the Great Commission Johann Gerhard Oncken (1800-1884), one of the founders of the Baptist movement in Germany and the rest of the European continent in the nineteenth century, was fond of saying that every Baptist was called to act as a missionary. This commitment to evangelism has been a core conviction of Baptists across the world, as they seek to participate in fulfilling the Great Commission that Jesus gave to his disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). In the twenty-first century, many Baptists have found the perspective and offerings of Fresh Expressions to be an exciting and innovative way to live out their missionary call. In the state I reside in, two-thirds of our residents will not be attending a traditional church service on Sunday mornings. New forms of community life and witness are urgently needed to reach these neighbors, many of whom are spiritually hungry but have no spiritual home. The Fresh Expressions new church plant that I attend (now a mature congregation) started out seeking to reach first and second-generation Koreans and other Asians who lived in the Princeton, NJ area. Now, some 17 years later, the church has welcomed and discipled people from a variety of cultural and racial backgrounds and is a truly global family. Small in size yet bold in vision, the fellowship has started several Fresh Expressions ministries and new congregations, from our locality outwards to several countries.
